Everyone's been reborn, so who would bother finding a wife on their own?

When Song Huan arrived home, Zhang Xuejuan was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Holding the remote control, I kept switching channels, each one lasting less than three seconds.

Song Wentao leaned against the side reading the newspaper, holding it high, just like always.

"You're back?" Zhang Xuejuan asked without turning her head.

"Okay." Song Huan changed her shoes, put her schoolbag on the floor, and sat down on the sofa.

Have you eaten?

"I ate at school."

Zhang Xuejuan nodded and continued changing channels.

Song Huan leaned back on the sofa, her eyes darting around on the TV screen. After a while, she spoke.

"Mom, there's a parent-teacher conference tomorrow."

Zhang Xuejuan's finger stopped on the remote control. She turned to look at him and asked, "What time?"

"Eight o'clock in the evening."

"Where?"

"In the classroom, I'll draw you a map later. The school is quite big, so don't get lost."

Zhang Xuejuan put down the remote control, stood up, and walked towards the bedroom.

Song Huan thought she was going to get something, but instead she opened the wardrobe door.

There was a row of clothes hanging inside, from left to right, in colors ranging from dark to light.

Her hand moved from left to right, then from right to left, finally stopping on a dark blue dress. She took it off, picked up the hanger, and turned to look at Song Wentao on the sofa.

"How about this one? Let's go see Xu Wan."

Song Wentao peeked out from behind the newspaper, glanced at it, and said, "Not bad."

What does "okay" mean? Does it mean good-looking or bad-looking?

"nice."

"You didn't even look carefully."

Zhang Xuejuan lifted the skirt a little higher, turned around, and said, "Isn't this color too dark? Xu Wan has fair skin and looks good in anything. I need to pick something that won't be inferior to hers."

Song Wentao put down the newspaper, took a careful look, and said, "The light-colored one looks good."

"Light-colored? Which light-colored one?" Zhang Xuejuan turned back and rummaged through the wardrobe.

Song Wentao sighed, stood up, walked over, and took out a beige shirt dress from the wardrobe. "This one."

Zhang Xuejuan took it, compared it to herself in the mirror, and asked, "Isn't this too plain?"

"Simple is better, it's more dignified."

"Too."

She put the skirt on the bed and then started rummaging through her pants.

Song Huan sat on the sofa, watching her parents busy in the bedroom, and her lips twitched.

It's just a parent-teacher meeting, but it's being acted like an awards ceremony.

"Dad, Mom," he said.

Zhang Xuejuan peeked out from the bedroom. "What's wrong?"

"I ranked second in the class in this monthly exam."

"oh."

Zhang Xuejuan responded and turned back to continue rummaging through the pants.

Song Huan waited, but nothing came of it.

Second in the class, and all I got was an "Oh?"

He opened his mouth, about to say something, when Zhang Xuejuan poked her head out of the bedroom again.

"By the way, how did Little Cloud do on her exam?"

Song Huan paused for a moment, then said, "Twenty-one."

Zhang Xuejuan's hand remained motionless inside the wardrobe. "Twenty-one? Didn't she always get good grades?"

"I didn't perform well this time, and besides, the test was set by the teachers of our school, so it was a bit of a challenge."

Zhang Xuejuan nodded, said nothing more, and turned back to continue rummaging through the clothes.

Song Huan sat on the sofa, watching the TV screen, which was showing a health and wellness program.

A person in a white coat is talking about how to prevent high blood pressure, and even says it's a family secret, that five generations have been curing high blood pressure.

He stared at the white coat for a while, then suddenly spoke.

"Mom, I'm not sitting with Xiao Yunqing."

The noise in the bedroom stopped.

Zhang Xuejuan came out of the bedroom, still holding the beige dress in her hand, and stood at the door, looking at him.

Song Wentao also came out of the bedroom, without the newspaper, his hands in his pockets, leaning against the door frame.

The two people looked at him without saying a word.

Song Huan said, "The seats have changed; they're arranged according to grades. I'm in the first row, and she's in the second-to-last row."

Zhang Xuejuan and Song Wentao exchanged a glance.

Song Wentao spoke first, "Haven't you two always sat together? From elementary school until now, more than ten years."

"Yes, we've separated this time."

Zhang Xuejuan walked over, sat down next to him, put her skirt on her knees, and looked at him.

"Is she very sad?"

He nodded. "I think so."

Zhang Xuejuan sighed and said nothing more.

Song Wentao stood to the side, looking out the window.

Outside the window are the streetlights in the community, their dim yellow light shining on the flower beds and casting long shadows of the trees.

"How's her new deskmate?" Zhang Xuejuan asked.

Song Huan recalled Xu Heng's smiling face, "He's alright, quite honest."

Zhang Xuejuan nodded, stood up, and walked back to the bedroom, lifting her skirt.

He paused at the door, glanced back at Song Huan, and said, "Tomorrow is the parent-teacher conference. I'll go talk to her mother."

Song Huan was taken aback. "What did you say?"

Zhang Xuejuan didn't answer and turned to go into the bedroom.

……

The lights on the other side were also on.

When Xiao Yunqing arrived home, Xu Wan was sitting at the dining table watching TV.

Xiao Haifeng leaned back on the sofa reading documents, his reading glasses perched on his nose, his brows slightly furrowed.

"You're back?" Xu Wan looked up.

"Mm." Xiao Yunqing changed her shoes, put her schoolbag on the ground, and walked over to sit at the dining table.

"Have you got a meal yet?"

"I ate at school."

Xu Wan nodded and continued looking at her phone.

Xiao Yunqing sat there, drawing circles on the table with her finger. After a while, she spoke.

"Mom, there's a parent-teacher conference tomorrow."

Xu Wan looked up. "What time?"

"Eight o'clock in the evening."

"In the classroom?"

"Mom, you graduated from No. 1 High School, you should know where Class 8 of the first year of high school is, right?"

"Know."

Xu Wan nodded and continued watching TV.

Xiao Yunqing waited a while before speaking again, "Mom, I ranked twenty-first in the class in this monthly exam."

Xu Wan's finger stopped on the phone screen, and she looked up.

Xiao Haifeng also peeked out from behind the documents, his reading glasses slipping down to the tip of his nose.

"Twenty-one?" Xu Wan's voice was neither loud nor soft. "The whole class or the whole grade?"

Xiao Yunqing lowered her head. "The whole class."

Xu Wan and Xiao Haifeng exchanged a glance.

Xiao Haifeng put down the file and looked at her. "What happened? Was the question too difficult, or did you not perform well?"

Xiao Yunqing lowered her head and remained silent.

He drew circles on the table with his finger, faster and faster.

Xu Wan stood up, walked over, and sat down next to her.

"It's okay if you didn't do well on one test, just try harder next time. You did fail tests in junior high too, but you caught up later, didn't you?"

Xiao Yunqing remained silent.

She lowered her head, her ponytail hanging down, obscuring her face.

Xu Wan reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, noticing that her eyes were red, her lips were pursed, and her chin was trembling.

But she didn't cry.

I bit my lip and forced myself to swallow the sour taste.

"What's wrong?" Xu Wan's voice softened.

Xiao Yunqing shook her head, her voice muffled.

"It's nothing. I just didn't do well on the test, and I'm feeling down."

Xu Wan looked at her but didn't expose her.

He reached out and pulled her close, letting her lean on his shoulder.

Xiao Yunqing didn't move, just leaned against it, her eyes fixed on the table, red, but she never fell down.

After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice very soft.

"Mom, I'm not sitting with him anymore."

Xu Wan paused for a moment.

"He was moved to the first row and sat with other girls, while I was moved to the second to last row."

She spoke calmly, as if stating something that had nothing to do with her.

But the voice trembled slightly at the last word, very softly, like a string that had been plucked and then snapped.

Xiao Haifeng sat on the sofa, the documents in his hand resting on his lap, unread.

He watched as his daughter leaned on her mother's shoulder, her eyes red, but not a single tear fell.

I can't quite describe the feeling in my heart.

Xu Wan didn't say anything, but patted Xiao Yunqing's back repeatedly.

She knew that she could work hard to get into the top 21, and she could change her seat in the second-to-last row, but the boy sitting in the first row by the window wouldn't be sitting next to her anymore.

She can't help with this.

Xiao Yunqing straightened up from her shoulder, sniffed, and rubbed the corner of her eye with the back of her hand.

"Mom, I'll definitely do better next time. I want to be in the top five again."

Xu Wan looked at her. "Just to sit next to him again?"

Xiao Yunqing did not answer.

I stood up, picked up my schoolbag, and walked to my room.

He walked to the door, paused for a moment, but didn't turn around.

"I'm going back to my room to study."

The door closed.

Xu Wan and Xiao Haifeng exchanged a glance.

Xiao Haifeng took off his reading glasses, placed them on the coffee table, and sighed.

"This child takes after me. Stubborn."

In the room, Xiao Yunqing put her schoolbag on the table and sat down.

With a physics test paper spread out in front of her, she picked up her pen and stared at the first question for a long time.

Her eyes were still red, but she didn't cry.

She took a deep breath, and the pen tip landed on the paper, scratching and writing with great force.

……

Friday night at 11 p.m.

It was already dark when Zhang Xuejuan returned.

She pushed open the door, threw her bag on the sofa, and without even changing her shoes, sat down and started talking to Song Wentao.

Song Wentao had just come out of the kitchen, holding a cup of tea in his hand, but hadn't had a chance to drink it yet.

"You didn't see it, Huanhuan's homeroom teacher, Wang Qing, is too fierce."

Zhang Xuejuan's voice was high-pitched and urgent, bursting out like beans being poured out.

"During the meeting, she stood on the podium, holding the report cards, reading them aloud one by one, scolding each one as she read them. There were fifty-four students in the class, and she scolded all fifty-four of them, not missing a single one."

"When she read out the names of students with good grades, she would say, 'Don't be arrogant, your grades aren't even among the top in the grade.' When she read out the names of students with poor grades, she would say, 'Don't give up, your grades aren't even good enough for a second-tier university.' She would scold each student she read out. The parents below were all green with envy."

"It's a good thing I didn't go to high school, otherwise I would have been scolded to death for my grades!"

Song Wentao placed his teacup on the coffee table, sat down, and said, "Is it really that exaggerated?"

"Exaggeration? You didn't go."

Zhang Xuejuan slapped her thigh. "A parent wanted to say something on behalf of their child, saying that our child usually works very hard, but maybe they didn't perform well this time. Wang Qing directly retorted, saying that effort isn't about the process, it's about the result."

"Your child tried hard, but got this result, which means their efforts were misdirected. If the direction is wrong, no amount of effort will help." That parent was speechless after being rebuked.

Song Wentao took a sip of tea but didn't reply.

She also mentioned little clouds.

Zhang Xuejuan lowered her voice by an octave, saying, "She said Xiaoyunduo seems quite attentive in class, takes good notes, and hands in all her homework, but she just doesn't do well on tests. She said she's only pretending to work hard, just putting on a show. Hearing this, Xu Wan, a director from the Education Bureau, sat below and her face turned pale."

Song Huan sat in the room, the door closed, her ear pressed against the door panel.

Zhang Xuejuan's voice came from the living room again, "After the parent-teacher meeting, Xu Wan pulled me aside and said that Xiaoyunduo had never done so badly on a test before, and she was also upset."

She paused for a moment.

"Why?" Song Wentao asked.

"She was sad because he broke up with Huanhuan and said he was sitting with another girl."

Song Huan leaned against the door, listening without saying a word.

Suppressed, painful, and tearful—that's the main theme of high school.

……

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